Munich - "America is back," said US President Joe Biden at the security conference on Friday.
And Europe?
“The common path will be difficult,” says the Munich political scientist Carlo Masala.
A conversation about missing ideas and a tired chancellor.
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"Looked tired and exhausted": Chancellor Angela Merkel at Siko.
© Benoit Tessier / dpa
Professor Masala, the digital Siko should mark a new beginning of the transatlantic relationship.
Did that succeed?
Political scientist Prof. Carlo Masala
: Radio Yerevan answer: yes and no.
On the one hand, a more civilized tone has found its way into transatlantic relations.
On the other hand, it was very noticeable how little Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron used the opportunity to deviate from their prepared speeches in order to respond directly to Joe Biden.
Both seemed reserved to defensive.
What does that tell you?
Masala
: Biden was very enthusiastic, Merkel on the contrary looked tired and exhausted.
I got the impression: she's no longer interested.
Macron is a brilliant rhetorician - all the more important is what he didn't say.
Biden has brought China and Russia to the fore and committed himself to NATO.
Macron did not mention China at a single word and only said to Russia that we have to stay in dialogue.
He named Africa and the Middle East as areas of cooperation - precisely the two areas that Biden did not mention at all.
So: You deliberately talked past each other.
Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin must have been satisfied with the performance of the West ...
Masala
: Absolutely.
The West has shown that it still has no common ground on how to meet the challenges of the 21st century.
Merkel and Macron in particular have failed to show where Europe's future contribution to the transatlantic relationship might lie.
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Prof. Dr.
Carlo Masala, Professor of International Politics at the UniBwUniversität der Bundeswehr Munich.
© University of the Federal Armed Forces Munich
For example on the major topic of China ...
Masala
: Biden said it explicitly: There will be a long structural conflict with China.
What can Europe do in this specific area?
How do we deal with the fact that China is increasingly becoming a security risk for Asia - and also for us?
No specific answer.
Or is it that China determines principles of international law such as the free sea lanes into question?
No specific answer.
How do we react to the fact that China wants to change the rules of the international system and, unlike Russia, also has the power to change them?
Here too: no specific answer.
Europeans don't want to give answers - or can't you?
Masala
: At least as far as we Germans are concerned, I think: we can't.
We'd rather wait and see what happens.
We are not proactive.
That's a problem.
What does the lack of ideas mean for the common path of the West?
Masala
: Very simple, it will be difficult.
I found the self-drunkenness with which Germany celebrated the fact that there was such a three-way panel as there was on Friday completely out of place.
A person of the Trump type may be sitting in the White House again in 2025.
So the time window to develop a common strategy is small.
What should Europe do?
Masala
: I would advocate formulating a dual strategy of relief and commitment.
Relief of the USA as security guarantor, for example through more military capacities in Europe.
Commitment to the American China strategy.
It's difficult for us because we have economic interests in China that we don't want to endanger.
But it cannot be that we pursue interests and place the main responsibility for security on the US.
That doesn't go well in the long run.
Was it a gross foul of the EU to sign an investment deal with China earlier this year?
Masala
: No, it wasn't.
We shouldn't make ourselves completely dependent on the Americans either.
But this agreement shows the basic problem.
After all, after Friday there is again the feeling that America and the EU are pulling together.
Is that sustainable or will the conflicts soon become dominant?
Masala
: Biden's speech was an attempt to bring multilateralism back to the fore.
But if the US finds that things are not working properly with the Europeans, the Biden administration will again act in a strongly unilateral manner.
Europe is in control.
Interview: Marcus Mäckler
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“On air” - on the air: Joe Biden digitally on the Siko.
© Patrick Semansky / dpa
This is what the world press says about virtual Siko
“Anyone who expected the successor to the alliance contemptor Donald Trump would strike a completely different note than his predecessor was not disappointed.
Biden affirmed the value and importance of the transatlantic partnership in a way that had recently been sorely missed. ”FAZ
“The West held a zoom call.
But there was something nostalgic about the occasion: for a long time it looked like a celebration of bygone times that will not return despite Trump being voted out of office.
A celebration of the old west.
The answers to the challenges of the future, however, were rather rare.
(...) If someone had been teleported from 2015 to 2021 and heard the speech from Biden, it would have seemed completely irrelevant - Biden above all reinforced alliances and values that were once taken for granted. ”
Spiegel.de
“The US return to multilateralism and the Atlantic alliance is to be welcomed, but it does not compensate for the weakness of the Europeans.
Even under Biden it is only borrowed time, an uncertain promise that may last until the next election in the USA.
Europe needs clear principles and the courage to confront politically.
Only a small group of willing states will lead Europe's foreign policy.
And only with a high-tech military are they credible. ”NZZ am Sonntag (Zurich)
"With his speeches at the G7 summit and the Munich Security Conference, Biden proposed a new agenda to the democracies: defeat the pandemic, rebuild the economy and protect the climate in order to master the challenge of the fourth industrial revolution and the attack by autocracies, starting with Russia and China.
(...) The new tenant in the White House does not limit himself to correcting the mistakes of his predecessor. ”La Repubblica (Rome)
“Even as Senator and Vice President, Joe Biden was one of the very few in Washington who really enjoyed the summit - he was eager to show up at the Munich Security Conference, where Europe's diplomatic and military elite meet.
Two years ago he even came to Munich as a private citizen, pounding his shoulder, looking for his way through the packed Bayerischer Hof and assuring the Allies that the Trump era would end - someday.
When he returned on Friday, his message was clear: The era of 'America-first diplomacy' is over. ”New York Times
"Merkel, who had a tense relationship with Trump, made no secret of her predilection for an American foreign policy that is shaped by Biden's view of the world." Washington Post
G7 meeting and Siko in one day: In terms of world politics, there was a lot on Friday.
Joe Biden gave a historic speech.
German politicians are now responding positively.
* Merkur.de is part of the Ippen-Digital network
List of rubric lists: © Benoit Tessier / dpa